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Thursday, November 11, 2010

Getting Started With My First Doll Pattern

I really loved the felt doll pattern that I posted last week and thought that would be my first attempt at making a doll. However, I ran across this simple free doll pattern that seemed a little more fitting for my first go at making a baby doll.

It's a cotton doll - not a felt one, and it's MUCH larger than the felt doll pattern, but I liked the little girl doll pattern and thought it would be perfect for my niece for christmas. I would also get a chance to test out my sewing skills along the way.

So, to start my first doll I made my first trip to Walmart. Here's what I bought:

1. Polyfil -stuffing for the doll - only $2.97

2. Cotton Fabric (even though the pattern suggest I start with a thicker material I really liked the pattern selection they had in cotton so I went with it.

I picked up six - 18"x21" cotton fabrics - see pictures below. ONLY $1 each

a pink pattern

a purple pattern

a yellow fabric

a purple fabric

and two skin color fabrics for the face and arms.

3. I also picked up a small sewing starter kit. To be honest I had no clue what I needed for thread or needle sizes, so I figured a starter kit would get me going and I could buy other pieces as I needed them for other dolls. The starter kit costs - just under $8

4. Thick brown yarn for the hair - $3

Altogether for this doll I spent $20 and prayed I purchased everything I needed to accomplish my very first doll :)

When I got home I printed out the free doll pattern (page 1 & page 2) that I found over at MakeBabyStuff.com. I then traced it onto the fabric. Once my son saw me starting the doll he was hooked :) He wanted to make a doll for his new baby sister (due in March). This was awesome! Now I have a partner to learn along with me.

Here's our progress so far:

1. Traced the pattern onto the fabric.

2. Cut out the pattern

Pattern pieces after cut out...

Finally - we sewed the head onto the body/dress of the doll.

Side Note: I may not have mentioned this before, but I have never sewed before in my life.. so I needed a quick tutorial to get me started. Here are the two sites that have helped me most...

Learning to tie a knot at the end of your thread - special thanks to Heather Bailey and her picture tutorial here

Also learned to blanket stitch from this very basic, but very easy to follow Youtube Video

I'm Me ;)

I'm a home mom that loves crafts. As a little girl I spent weekends at my grandma's making everything from dolls to scrapbooks and more. I LOVED how close this brought me to my grandmother and am hoping to do the same in the future. For now, I'm crafting with my son. This is just an outlet for me to share my doll hobby (since my son isn't that into them :)